Traditional flag of Bavaria;
white and blue lozenges. There were always several
versions of this flag - some of them had just two wide vertical
or horizontal white and blue stripes (as on official
Bavarian Republic 1919 flag) .

after 1900

Logo of the
Bayern Football Club established in 1900. Despised by the
Nazis as the Jewish club - FC Bayern Munich had from the
beginning Bavarian lozenges in
its logo.

1917

0n October 5, 1917
Franz-Josef Popp files for the registration of the BMW logo in the Germany's Imperial
Trademark Roll; it has been registered on December 10, 1917 under the number: 221388

On the left a letter from BMW to
the German Imperial Ministry of War dated October 1, 1917
- the first known printed usage of the
logo.

1919

Bayerische
Flugzeug-Werke (Bavarian Arircraft Works) was created on
March 7, 1916.
The company uses the letters BFW as a short form of its
name. First roundels are
in use, still without the letters at the top.

Bayerische Motoren Werke
G.m.b.H. was created in 1917 and transformed in March of 1918 into the public
company BMW AG. Originally the aircraft
engine company, while as a result of the Treaty of
Versaille (June of 1919) Germany was not allowed to produce the
airplanes, BMW stepped into the production of engines for
boats and agriculture and later producing motorycles
and cars.

One of the
first uses of the BMW logo in a BMW engines advert from 1919.

1919

Another advert from 1919. Please notice the
BMW logo at top left.

ca.1925

Originally BMW was an aircraft
engine company, however as a result of the Treaty of
Versaille (June of 1919) Germany was not allowed to produce the
airplanes, BMW stepped initially into the production of engines for
boats and agriculture, returning to the production
of aircraft and car engines in the mid-1920-ties.

1929

The legend: An artistic vision of an inspiration behind
the BMW roundel. A drawing executed for the BMW advert from 1929, explains the
idea behind the logo: a silver propeler blades
turning with high speed create an
illusion.
A publication in 1942 by Wilhelm Fahrenkopf confirms the
airplane propeller as an inspiration for the logo,
but this information might have been infulenced by the fact, that
because of the war BMW had to concentrate on the production of
the aircraft engines while car production has been brought to a
a halt. In 2010 a BMW historian Kai Jacobsen calls an airplane
propeller explanation "the myth".

» An
evolution of the BMW logo roundel:

1918

BMW logo in a
1918 BMW engines advert, Different ornaments were often used in
publications, the original logo did not have them.

1923

One of the first authentic BMW emblem's in use
on the R32 motorcycle -1923.

First
emblems were 6,1 cm big, casted by Plafa Factory in Jena,
with emaille colors, white, blue, black and metal gold. They
were fixed on the motorcycles with two screws.

1926

A restored BMW roundel on a
R42 motorcycle. This one is from 1926.

.

1928

More decorative, with ornamental letter
BMW emblem on the first BMW car - model Dixi from 1928.

1929

Roundel place above three leaves
on the top of the radiator of the BMW 3/15PS from 1929.

1932

An illustration with the BMW logo
from a brochure of the BMW model 3/20: the letters
are simplified and presented without serifs.

from 1933

Simple thin yellow letters
without serifs, blue and white fields
equal, the logo is surrounded by a decorative rim.

The letters remain apart, they grow bigger. Golden
color of the letters has been for the foirst time replaced by silver.

A roundel on a BMW car during the
WWII, at the end of the civil cars production.

ca. 1949

Again the letters in gold, but this is a
motorcycle roundel.

A roundel on the BMW motorcycle just
after the WWII. BMW as one of the companies working for
the Nazi Germany war effort, was not allowed to produce
cars at the time. Only in Eisenach in East Germany, in the
Soviet Occupation Zone the cars were produced, initially under
the BMW badge and from 1952 under the EMW brand (Eisenacher
Motorenwerk) and with the red white lozenges logo. The total of
30 400 cars were produced at Eisenach up to the end of 1955,
stemming out of BMW constructions.

1951

An aged BMW emblem on the BMW 501.

1952

The BMW logo on a
motorcycle R 51/3 tank emblem. Letters became smaller and
they are placed more to the top of the roundel.

1955

BMW
logo on Isetta car.

1955

A version of the BMW
logo in a company publication, at the time of Isetta car.

Please note thatthe letters lost its serifs
and that the letter B has a distinctive design
while other letters were simplified.

ca.1957

An emblem on BMW 503:
letter
B uniformed with other letters.
thin letters, standing apart but with serifs. Blue lozenges are a bit bigger than white.

ca.1962

All letters
become bolder. A
wide silver chrome ring was added on the outside.

ca. 1970

BMW roundel logo with an additional
chrome ring around.

1971

Motorcycle emblem with two
screws and a small silver ring around,

after
1970

Simple,
bold letters are used. The inside white and blue lozenges are bigger in
proportion to the letters.
The outside ring becomes thin.

Since ca.1995 BMW begins to use three-dimensional logo on
all publications.

BMW badge today. Since 1971
changes if there are any, are almost not noticeable. The black
ring became slightly thinner and as a result letters became
smaller and more separated while equal in size blue and white
lozenges are more prominent.

2012

BMW badge with a blue circle added to the
roundel for the BME emblem on
BMW i cars.

» BMW logo - changed by law
:

1934 - 1939

Frazer-Nash has been an
official BMW importer in England befor the WW2. The firm
imported BMW cars in elements and assembled giving them its
name. With the beginning of the WW2 by Germany, England
defending Poland declared war on Hitler's Germany and
Frazer-Nash BMW logo has not been used anymore. After the war
Bristol and Frazer-Nash continued building BMW cars, sometimes
only
with minor changes, but the roundel has not been used.

1946 - 1953

While BMW has not been allowed after WWII to build cars, a
small German firm Veritas established in Meßkirch in
Baden, used BMW 328 chassis and its driving train with new bodies to
participate in car races. These beautiful cars were largely
inspired by the 1940 BMW Mille Miglia Roadster. The logo they
bared had some elements of the roundel, but not quite. A reversed Mercedes-like driving wheel served as a
roundel. And while BMW was reborn in Munich, because of the strict
atmosphere in the American Occupation Zone, Veritas chose as
its base the city in the French zone.

1952 - 1955

BMW factory inEisenach as a result of WW2
happened to be in the Soviet Occupation Zone of the Post-Nazi
Germany and kept producing cars, at first, since 1945 the
pre-war types badged as BMW, later - from 1952 as a result
of the court order as EMW (Eisenacher Motorenwerk).

ca. 1952

East German EMW logo with added letters in the
middle.

2005-2009

Chinese car maker BYD has been
inspired not only by the BMW cars styling, but also by the BMW
roundel. Not only BYD F6 car looks very similar to the BMW 7 series, BYD's roundel reminds us the emblem of BMW, but technically BMW
and BYD cars are worlds apart.. Things change fast in China and
today the BYD is at the forefront of the electric car
research, it has Warren Buffet with $232 million
as an investor and a new logo, which this time looks more
like the one of the Korean car maker KIA. Amazingly thousands of
cars BYD produces today still bear the old white and blue flattened
roundel. We understand why.

» BMW logo - looking for a change:

1978-1981

An attempt to create a separate emblem
for the BMW Motorsport division cars. A similar design
version, but in grey and black, has been already used by BMW on a
steering wheel of M1 (E25; 1978-1981), and on E12 M535i
(1980-1981), but never on a body nor wheels of the cars. This idea
was forsaken on M635 CSi
(E24; 1984-1989).

Now a private initiative tries to introduce a
color version of this roundel.

after 1971

Emblem of the Hartge car tuning
company from Merzig , Germany, specializing in BMW, MINI and
Range Rover vehicles.

2006

BMW roundel generated through the laser
light show.

2007

Several firms propose today a BMW
roundel with a carbon inlay. Pity for the blue...

2008

Global economic crisis is also a crisis
of values: here is the BMW badge inlaid with
Swarovski white and blue crystals.

2009

A
project of the so called Dynamic
Car Identity, presented on the new BMW Z4 - a proposal
published onYou Tubeby Orazio Iaci for Zafira Consulting & Trading (London,
UK, Stefano Carobene - owner) for a dynamic BMW logo, which has a small
turning LED screen

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